


Mischief

by ElectraCute



Series: The End of the Rainbow [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Childhood Trauma, Dysfunctional Family, End of the Rainbow AU, Family Drama, Gen, Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectraCute/pseuds/ElectraCute
Summary: Young Sirius Black is an unruly child, and he has a good reason why.





	Mischief

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Boys of Summer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18478624) by [todaslasmadrugadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/todaslasmadrugadas/pseuds/todaslasmadrugadas). 

> Hello everyone! This is another short story which stands completely on its own, but belongs in the same muggle AU as @todaslasmadrugadas’s “The Boys of Summer”, as well as my “Off The Tapestry”. Here we get a closer look at Sirius’ family life and the dynamics between some of his relatives. If you like this AU, be sure to check out the two aforementioned works, you’re in for a treat!
> 
> Enjoy xx

Sirius runs up the stairs and gets to the master bedroom out of breath. He’s holding his drawing in one hand, and pushes the half-opened door with the other. “Mother!” he says and the woman sitting at the window seat breaks off her melancholic gazing to give him a momentary glance.

“Look!” he says and waves the piece of paper. “I made a drawing.”

His mother hums without taking her eyes from the window. Her long black hair is hanging loose down her back, and she is wearing a white silk robe. The day is cloudy and the room is dimly lit, save for a small lamp on the nightstand, next to a bunch of pill bottles and packages.

“Do you not want to look at it?” Sirius insists, holding his drawing up for his mother to see.

“Mother has a headache, Sirius. Go play with your nanny; she’s the one getting paid for it. Put her to good use, will you?”

Sirius frowns. “Can I play with the baby?”

His mother ignores him. He lightly pulls at her robe.

“What?” she says, irritated.

“I said, can I play with the baby?”

“No, you can’t. The baby is too small. Besides, he’s sleeping. Now go, leave me alone.”

Sirius leaves his drawing by the pill bottles on the nightstand. It shows two black-haired, grey-eyed boys standing side by side, one of them taller than the other. Holding hands. Smiling.

He doesn’t want to play with his nanny. He doesn’t want to talk to any of his imaginary friends, or pretend to be in any of his make-believe worlds. He doesn’t want to play with his toys either, despite having mountains of them. He simply wishes his mother would pay him some attention.

It is then that he gets a brilliant idea. While his nanny is busy tidying up the nursery, he sneaks out and quickly runs to the drawing room. There it is, high up on the wall; a glass cabinet with a display of hand-painted porcelain figures, dishes, and all sorts of other utensils. Sirius has heard his mother boast about their family’s porcelain collection in gatherings, and knows that she values it enough to care about whether or not it remains up there.

He pushes a chair all the way to the wall, and climbs on it. However, he can barely reach the cabinet; he jumps off and runs to get a few books. He stacks them on top of the chair - a difficult task, given how heavy they are - and then tries again. This time he succeeds, and manages to open the glass cabinet.

His small hands clumsily grab one of the figurines; it is a chubby little angel with hair and wings of gold. Sirius sends him off to fly, but the little angel - quite predictably - dives into the void and is crushed as soon as he hits the floor.

The loud shattering noise satisfies Sirius. He grabs another figurine, a woman with a funny hat, and violently hurls her onto the floor as well, making the crash even louder. It doesn’t take long before he is sending all kinds of porcelain items to meet their demise, and he feels really good while he’s at it.

“Master Sirius!” he hears a voice behind him, and sees a horrified maid at the door. “Stop this at once! Your mother will be very upset!”

Sirius drops another plate in front of the maid’s eyes.

“I’m off to inform Mistress Walburga of your antics!” cries the maid and makes a move to leave, but it turns out that she doesn’t have to go anywhere after all; a tall, white-clad figure with long black hair and sullen grey eyes ominously walks into the room and Sirius suddenly feels a pang of fear in his heart.

His mother, awakened at last, takes in the sight of the smashed porcelain on the floor for a moment and then lifts her face to look at him, her left eye twitching slightly. She leaps towards him, walking through the shards, and he takes a step back, forgetting that he’s standing on a pile of books on top of a chair. The books slip, the chair falls forward and he slumps backwards, hitting his head on the wall. It hurts, but the pain isn’t enough to make him take his terrified eyes off his mother, who has now reached him.

She kicks the chair out of the way and grabs his ear, pulling him up by it as he whimpers.

“HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND?” she yells and Sirius is a bit taken aback. “THIS PORCELAIN BELONGED TO OUR ANCESTORS! IT WAS ONE OF OUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS, A FAMILY HEIRLOOM, AND YOU’VE RUINED IT!” He is staring at her with his mouth wide open, not knowing how to respond. His mother does not shout like this very often.

She lets go of his ear, dropping him to the floor again. A disgusted expression washes over her face, as if she has just dropped a bag of rubbish. “But don’t you worry,” she says through clenched teeth, “there will be a suitable punishment for you! WHERE ON EARTH IS THAT DAMNED WOMAN?” she screams again, now directed at the maid who is still standing at the door.

“The nanny, Mistress?” she asks, trembling.

“Get her here NOW!”

After getting screamed at and threatened to be fired, the nanny is ordered to keep Sirius locked up in his room for two days, only bringing in his meals. “Let’s see if you’ll think of destroying a family heirloom ever again!” says his mother while she watches him being dragged away, sparks of anger still glowing in her eyes.

The two days cooped up in his room pass very very slowly, and his impatience makes him irritable. He yells and cries and kicks the furniture and pulls his nanny’s hair and uses his markers to draw on the wall.

When he is finally let out he sprints throughout the entire house, making sure nothing has changed in his absence. He even visits baby Regulus in his nursery, and climbs on a stool to look at him in his crib; it’s too bad that Regulus spends most of his time sleeping. Sirius cannot wait until he’s old enough to play with him.

Sure, he can still play with his cousins but that only happens when they visit and besides, not all three of them make for good company. The one closest to his age is Narcissa, but he finds her boring; she never comes up with any fun games, and is very concerned with not getting her clothes dirty when they’re playing in the garden.

Thankfully there’s also Andromeda, whom Sirius likes more. She puts up little shows with his toys, and does all sorts of different voices for them. As for the eldest, Bellatrix… Sirius simply cannot stand her. Not only because she is obnoxious and likes to boss the rest of them around. He also hates her because his mother likes Bellatrix better than him.

Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella are visiting again today, and have brought all three girls with them. As soon as Bellatrix walks in, his mother’s face lights up. She listens eagerly as the girl tells them all about her first year at Hogwarts, the boarding school that their family has attended for generations. There is softness and care in his mother’s eyes while she looks at her niece - she never looks at Sirius that way.

The weather is good today and the four children are sent to play in the garden. Narcissa quickly excuses herself, not wanting to destroy her beautiful new pink dress, and asks to sit with baby Regulus instead - she finds him incredibly fascinating, and is overjoyed when she is allowed to hold the feeding bottle for him or put his little socks on his feet. Aunt Druella praises her youngest daughter for being so inclined to motherhood, even at six years old.

Bellatrix has brought over an interesting item; a pack of strawberry-flavoured bubblegum. Someone at school has taught her how to blow bubbles with it, and she is currently showing off to Andromeda and Sirius. They demand a piece of gum themselves, and after a bit of fighting Bellatrix finally agrees to let them have some.

Andromeda gets a hang of it quite quickly, soon being able to blow her own little pink bubbles. Sirius, on the other hand, has made zero progress, and is getting frustrated.

While Bellatrix and Andromeda are busy with a contest of who can blow the biggest bubble, a devilish idea sneaks into his mind. He looks at his eldest cousin’s mane of curly black hair, and decides to add a little pink touch to it. Before she has time to even realise what’s going on, he shoves his hand into her curls and sticks his piece of gum somewhere in them.

Bellatrix screeches in despair, and soon the grown-ups come to investigate. “HE PUT GUM IN MY HAIR!” cries Bella and shows them the damage. Sirius glances at his mother; her face looks like she is silently murdering him in her head.

She grabs him by the hand and drags him in the house, shoves him into a corner and clutches his little jaw with her long, thin fingers, forcing him to look her in the eye. He feels her pointy nails sink into his flesh.

“You are embarrassing me in front of my brother and his wife,” she says quietly, but Sirius senses the rage boiling inside her. “Now listen here: an entire family has anticipated your birth for years, and as the Black heir you have certain obligations! One of which is to behave yourself!” She is barely not shouting at this point but Sirius is sure that his Aunt and Uncle, who are still in the garden, can hear her.

His mother takes in a deep breath and brings her other hand to the bridge of her nose, trying to calm herself. “You will be punished for this. No dinner for you tonight,” she announces and finally lets go of his jaw. He rubs the claw marks on his cheeks. “Oh - and you are not leaving this corner until your bedtime.” Sirius attempts to protest but a deadly look stops him from doing so.

Bellatrix is now crying - she has to part with a couple of curls due to the gum that is stuck on them, and Sirius can hear his mother comforting her, telling her that it’s only hair and that it will grow back.

They all come inside and sit at the parlour to have ice cream. Bellatrix is given a double portion, which she eats eagerly while wiping the tears off her eyes. Right before they go, his mother runs upstairs and returns with a shiny item; it is a hairbrush with a silver handle and the Black crest carved on it. She gifts it to Bellatrix, and the girl thanks her.

Sirius watches from afar, and is so furious that he decides to tear off the wallpaper while he waits in the corner. This punishment isn’t only about him being the Black heir and having to behave accordingly. It’s also about his mother avenging her beloved Bellatrix.

He desperately scratches at the edge of the wallpaper, tears welling up in his eyes as it finally comes off. He begins to rip little pieces of it - his mother will add something else to his punishment now, he suspects, but he doesn’t care. At least when she’s angry she can bother to look at him.


End file.
